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Iron Man (film)
The Iron Man film was released in theaters on May 2, 2008. The film was produced by Marvel Entertainment, New Line Cinema, and Paramount Pictures and was directed by John Favreau. The Film covers Tony Stark's back story about how he was captured by terrorists in Afghanistan as well as how he uses his resources to build Iron Man Mark 1 and escape. When he gets back to America, he sets to improve his armor, thus becoming Iron Man. As Iron Man, Stark thwarts a nefarious plot with global implications surrounding his business rival, Obadiah Stane, who becomes Iron Monger and sets out to destory Iron Man. Plot summary During a trip to Afghanistan to demonstrate his company's new weapon system,Tony Stark is attacked and kidnapped by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings. They want him to build them a version of his weapon system, an extremely destructive multi-warhead cluster bomb missile called 'Jericho'. Instead, over the next three months with the aid of a fellow captive, Dr. Yinsen, he builds a crude but very strong power armor, powered from a miniature arc reactor Stark and Yinsen built to power an electromagnet "pacemaker", which protects Stark's heart from the embedded shrapnel in his chest. Dr. Yinsen is killed trying to make sure Stark has enough time to prepare escaping, in the ensuing escape attempt, but Stark gets away and is picked up by the Air Force. Upon returning to the United States, Stark declares that Stark Industries will no longer manufacture weapons, a move which his business partner and second-in-command CEO Obadiah Stane tells him is blocked by the board members shortly after. During his self-imposed sabbatical from public life, Stark tinkers with the design of his power suit (albeit to several injuries he endures), refining it to be capable of flight, and builds a more powerful and reliable arc reactor, both to power his pacemaker and the suit. During his first public appearance since his kidnapping, he is shown pictures of Stark Industries weapons in the hands of terrorist groups, including the system he refused to build for them. He also discovers that Stane has been "dealing under the table" to both sides in the conflict, as well as being the one to shut Stark out of the board while he recovers. Faced with the realization of what his company has done, Stark dons the power suit and flies to Yinsen's village of Gulmira in Afghanistan, rescuing the villagers from terrorists and destroying their weapon stockpiles, but accidentally drawing the attention of the United States Air Force and his friend Jim Rhodes. After a supersonic dogfight between Stark and two F-22s, one jet gets damaged in Stark's attempt to hide, making the pilot eject. The pilot's eject seat malfuctions but Stark manages to save the pilot's life. After this ordeal, Stark reveals to Rhodes that he's Iron Man and Rhodes covers it up by stating it was "a training exercise". Determined to make amends for his mistakes, Stark sends his assistant Virginia Potts to find the shipping records of Stark Industries, so he can track down the illicit shipments and destroy them. While hacking into the system she discovers that it was Stane who hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but they had reneged on the deal when they realized who the target was. She also discovers that Stane has recovered the power suit prototype, and has reverse engineered his own version, but not before Stane has stolen Stark's arc reactor to power it after learning his selected scientists in Sector 16 can't copy Tony's ingenius invention of making the company's large arc reator smaller. Using his first reactor, which was not designed to power the suit, Stark does battle with Stane at Stark Industries headquarters in Los Angeles, defeating him when the larger arc reactor that powers Stark Industries is deliberately overloaded by Pepper on Stark's orders. Because Stark's reactor is nearly drained, he is protected from the EMP and survives. The film ends with a press conference about the battle. Although advised by an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. to claim Iron Man is his personal body guard and corporate mascot, Tony Stark instead announces that he is Iron Man. After the closing credits, Stark is greeted by General Nick Fury , director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who tells him about the Avenger Initiative. Cast Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man: Favreau had planned to cast a newcomer in the role, but ultimately chose Downey (a fan of the comic) because he felt the actor's past, including cocaine abuse, made him an appropriate choice for the part. "The best and worst moments of Robert's life have been in the public eye," the director explained. "He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That's Tony Stark. Robert brings a depth that goes beyond a comic-book character who is having trouble in high school, or can't get the girl." Favreau also felt Downey could make Stark a "likable asshole", but also depict an authentic emotional journey once he won over the audience. Downey had an office next to Favreau during pre-production, which allowed him greater involvement in the screenwriting process. He brought a deeper sense of humor to the film not present in previous drafts of the script. He explained, "What I usually hate about these superhero movies is when suddenly the guy that you were digging turns into Dudley Do-Right and then you're supposed to buy into all his 'Let's go do some good!' That Eliot Ness-in-a-cape-type thing. What was really important to me was to not have him change so much that he's unrecognizable. When someone used to be a schmuck and they're not anymore, hopefully they still have a sense of humor." To prepare, Downey spent five days a week weight training and practiced martial arts to get into shape, which benefitted him because "it's hard not to have a personality meltdown ... after about several hours in that suit. I'm calling up every therapeutic moment I can think of to just get through the day." Terrence Howard as |Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes: A pilot friend of Stark, and the liaison between Stark Industries and the military in the department of acquisitions. Favreau cast Howard because he felt he could play War Machine in a sequel. Howard and his father are Iron Man fans, partly because Rhodes was one of the few black superheroes when he was a child. While Rhodes is roguish in the comics after he met Stark, his earlier disciplinarian character forms double act|a dynamic with Stark, and he is unsure whether Stark's actions are acceptable. "Rhodey is completely disgusted with the way Tony has lived his life, but at a certain point he realizes that perhaps there is a different way," Howard said. "Whose life is the right way; is it the strict military life, or the life of an independent?" Howard prepared for the role by visiting Nellis Air Force Base on March 16, 2007, where he ate with the pilots and observed HH-60 Pave Hawk rescue helicopters and F-22 Raptors. He was a Downey fan since he saw him in Weird Science (film)|Weird Science, and they competed physically on set: "Robert and his competitive ass almost tore my shoulder trying to keep up with him. Because I'm forty or fifty pounds heavier than him, so I'm in there lifting and I pushed up about 225 and knocked it out ten times. Robert wanted to go about 235, and he did it. So I'm going to push it up to about 245. I took him out running and gave him some nice cramps. He couldn't walk after a couple of days." Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia "Pepper" Potts: Stark's personal secretary and budding love interest. Paltrow asked Marvel to send her any comics that they would consider relevant to her understanding of the character, which she considered to be very smart, very levelheaded, grounded, and she liked "the fact that there's a sexuality that's not blatant." Jon Favreau wanted Potts' and Stark's relationship to be reminiscent of a 1940's comedy, something which Paltrow considered to be fun in a sexy yet innocent way. Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane/ Iron Monger, ': Second-in-command at Stark Industries, who wants control of the company. When Stark declares he'll no longer manufacturer arms, he steals the blueprints for the Mark I armor to create his own, bigger version. Bridges read the comics as a boy and liked Favreau's modern, realistic approach. He shaved his hair and grew a goatee for the role, which was something he had wanted to do for some time. Bridges googled the Book of Obadiah, and he was surprised to learn retribution is a major theme in that particular book of the Bible, something which Stane represents. '''Shaun Toub as Yinsen: Stark's fellow captive in Afghanistan. He is a scientist who has traveled the world, and aids Stark in creating the Mark I and keeping it a secret from their captors. He also acts as Stark's mentor, showing him humility during their time together, and his following death being one of the principal reasons behind Stark's decision to change the direction of his company. In the original version, Yinsen was Chinese, but for the movie, he comes from a fictional place called Gulmira. Faran Tahir as Raza: The terrorist in an alliance with Stane who captures Stark and orders him to creating a weapon for his group. Tahir is an Iron Man reader, and wanted to bring humanity to the henchman. "I tried to find ways to show that although he may be the bad guy, there might be a moment or just a hint of vulnerability at times, where he hasn't made the right calculations or there's a certain amount of doubt. Jon was very receptive to that kind of layering". Leslie Bibb as Christine Everhart: A "fast-talking" reporter. Bill Smitrovich as Air Force General Gabriel. Paul Bettany as the voice of JARVIS (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System). The character of Jarvis has, for years, been Stark's loyal butler, but for the film, JARVIS is now Stark's personal AI which assists him in the construction and programming of the Iron Man suit. Gerard Sanders as Howard Stark: Tony Stark's late father, who had a business relationship with Obadiah Stane and died sometime before the film takes place. Cameos include Iron Man co-creator Stan Lee (whom Stark mistakes for Hugh Hefner at a party), and director Jon Favreau as Stark's bodyguard/chauffeur Happy Hogan. Ghostface Killah cameoed in a scene where Stark briefly stays in Dubai while returning to Afghanistan, but it was cut for pacing reasons. Hilary Swank reportedly had a cameo in the film, but this was revealed to be part of a disinformation campaign by Favreau designed to keep "website guessers at bay". Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello has a brief cameo as a guard. Samuel L. Jackson appears as Nick Fury after the credits, mentioning "the Avengers" to Stark. Links * }} Category:Films